The Energy of Slaves
The Energy of Slaves was the 4th collection of new poetry from Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen. History The Energy of Slaves was published in 1972 by McClelland & Stewart in Canada; by Viking Press in the United States; and by Jonathan Cape in the United Kingdom.The Energy of Slaves, Leonard Cohen Files. Nov. 14, 2016. Writing Stephen Scobie: "Another excursion into the anti-art mode, insisting that 'The poems don't love us any more,' and heading each page with a small black razor blade. Some of the poems are slight throwaways, but by and large this collection has 'aged' better than the more flamboyant Flowers for Hitler: its tone of mordant irony and self-criticism has a purity to it that retains (like a razor blade) its cutting edge." Contents #Welcome to these lines #I threw open the shutters: light fell on this poem #I threw open the shutters: light fell on these lines #This is the only poem #All men delight you #I'd like to read #Portrait of a girl #My skin is made of stars #There are no traitors among women #Poetry begun in this mood rarely succeeds #I am invisible tonight #It takes a long time to see you Terez #I did not know until you walked away #Overheard on every corner #Did you ever moan beneath me #I am no longer at my best practicing #I perceived the outline of your breasts #I don't want you to know who I am #I know there's no such thing as hell or heaven #I try to keep in touch wherever I am #Your eyes are very strong #It is not to tell you anything #O love did the world come to you #There is no end to my hatred #I am dying #cutting the hair #I left a woman waiting #I wore a medal of the Virgin #You are a much finer person than I am #— I don't know what to call it, he said #The silly girl, the silly girl #I make this song for thee #Listening to her song #Each day he lugged #Scorpion #Stay #If I could tell you #What character could possibly engage my boredom #She sat down at the piano #Morocco #I was lost #There is no one #The progress of my style #I dream of torturing you #Leaning over his poem #Crying, Come back, Hero #You provide the furniture #Over there a little altar #One of these days #Beauty speaks in the third act #Picture of the artist and his room #Why is it I have nothing to say to you #This is a threat #Terez and Deanne elude me #You need her #How we used to approach The Book of Changes: 1966 #To the men and women #I sit with the old men #There was a veil between them #I will grow old #I dress in black #I walk through the old yellow sunlight #Dance on the money #I have been cruel to you #Perhaps it is because my music #The sea-lions live a wonderful life #The Ark you're building #What has taken place in your body and your head #I let your mind enter me #Welcome home #I could not wait for you #They locked up a man #You are almost always with someone else #Dipped myself in a future night #Come down to my room #Valentina gave me four months #I have a sneer for you #It gets dark at four o'clock now #It was a while ago #You tore your shirt #You want me at all times #Why did you spend #It is a trust to me #he whistled to himself #His suicide was simply not a puzzle #I am punished when I do not work on this poem #Perhaps she would come again #the 15-year-old girls #On hearing that Irving Layton was kissed by Allen Ginsberg at a Toronto poetry reading #The poet is drunk #We call it sunlight #War is no longer needed #The killers that run the other countries #Dear Mailer #On leaving France #Love is a fire #Whenever I happen to see you #The form of poetry #Song for my assassin #I don't know what happens #I can't believe what they say is true #O darling (as we used to say) #I have no talent left #This is my voice #This is the poem we have been waiting for #How we loved you #The poems don't love us anymore #Layton was wrong #I think it is safe to tell you where I am #For a long time #Any system you contrive without us #Each man #One of the lizards #You went to work at the U.N. #Every time my wife has a baby #I see the ocean from my window #There is nothing here Table of contents courtesy A Concordance to the Poems, Prose and Songs of Leonard Cohen.The Energy of Slaves, The Books of Leonard Cohen, A Concordance to the Poems, Prose and Songs of Leonard Cohen. Web, Nov. 13, 2016. See also References External links